TopSpec Trainer of the Quarter - David Cottin
/The TopSpec Trainer of the Quarter award has been won by David Cottin. Cottin will receive £1,000 worth of TopSpec feed, supplements and additives as well as a consultation with one of their senior nutritionists.
“For me, Cheltenham is the temple of jumping and the most prestigious place to win a race, it’s a dream come true,” says David Cottin, talking about Easysland’s Cross Country Chase success, the first Cheltenham Festival win of his training career.
Cottin has only been training in Chantilly, and in the tranquil second base in Lion-d’Angers in the Loire Valley, since September 2017 and his first runner was also his first winner, Amour Du Puy Noir. A former three-time champion jockey in France, amassing 13 Group 1 wins and 732 wins, Cottin is the son of retired trainer Philippe Cottin. Having spent time in the UK with Andrew Balding, Paul Nicholls and Philip Hobbs, Cottin works alongside partner Amanda Zetterholm, former assistant to Mike de Kock.
Calm and tranquillity are Cottin’s by-words. At Chantilly, a sand paddock and two large grazing paddocks are used for daily turnout, while he has also taken over his father’s stable in western France, a perfect setting for breaking-in, training and resting horses.
“I used to love Cheltenham even as a child,” Cottin says, “and I had the race in mind for Easysland since early autumn, when I started to get him back for the track. My father trained for 25 years and he always said Easysland would be a very special cross-country horse, even when he was being broken in. He has been prepared by racing, I’m very easy on my horses at home. I wanted him to progress for his races, so he was not fit for his first race of the season, but he is unbeaten.”
Formed by his father, a cross-country specialist, Cottin never schools his older horses in the morning, including Easysland. “With my young stock, we school a lot in the calm, with a lot of repetition to get the horses mechanised. Repetition, repetition, repetition, not speed,” he reveals. “My father’s stable in the Loire Valley is three hours away and my horses go out to the calm of the country for breaks. They are all broken and pre trained in the country and when they are ready to race they come to Chantilly for hard work.”
At Cheltenham, Cottin was expecting another good run from Easysland, who had won by seven lengths over the same course and distance in December. “He seemed really well at home, his coat had changed, he was in good form and it was a really big advantage to have come here in December and to know the track. The heavy ground was also in his favour. While he is only a six-year-old, with a cross-country horse you have to train them when they are young over those jumps. We have been very patient with him and that has paid off.
“I always dreamed of riding a winner here as a jockey and unfortunately it didn't happen, but I'm really pleased to be here now, and it's all down to the team at home who are very motivating. We have a lot of horses and a lot of staff. It was massive for them, they were all watching at home.”
Winning jockey Jonathan Plouganou says of Easysland, “He is the best cross-country horse. He has beaten Tiger Roll, a real champion, so to beat him was special and now Easysland is the champion. This race is really special, it was an honour to ride in it, but to win it is even more important, especially in the cross-country which is a discipline I love, it means everything.”
As well as Easysland, Cottin has several nice older horses, including Paul’s Saga, who will be aimed at the Grande Course de Haies d'Auteuil, and Dalahast, who has the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris as an objective.
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